McCain opposes military action against Pak

NEW DELHI: Influential US Senator John McCain today opposed India launching military strikes against Pakistan in the wake of Mumbai attacks saying there was "no hard evidence yet" for such action and he would tell Islamabad to cooperate in the probe.

McCain, who ran unsuccessfully in the US Presidential poll last month, said he "assumed" that the Pakistan government would cooperate with India in bringing the perpetrators of Mumbai attacks to book.

Earlier, McCain along with fellow Senators Joe Liebermann and Lindsey Graham met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and expressed solidarity with India in the wake of the terror attacks.

"We would be meeting Pakistan General (Ashfaq) Kiyani over the weekend and raise some questions with him," Senator Joe
Liebermann told reporters here.

"I assume the Government of Pakistan will cooperate. They realise that this act of terror is not something that affects India but all the civilised nations," McCain said.

"No," was his reply to a question whether the Mumbai attacks were a "fit case" for India to launch military action against Pakistan.

"We do not have hard evidence yet. Obviously, there are allegations that this organisation, this individual or this group were trained or operated or had some training in Pakistan," said McCain, who ran unsuccessfully in last month's US Presidential elections.

The senators pointed out that all parts of Pakistan were not completely under government control and the US is helping Islamabad gain control of the entire country.